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newbie question

Im new to all the scale crawlers and i want to build my own from parts off the site. my main question is what electronics do i need i know motor, steering servo, and a servo to throw the trans, but what radio and reciever is best for a beginer?

You will need a 3-channel radio. Look for a radio with a 2-position switch on the 3rd channel. This will make it easy to switch gears. It would also be good if the 3rd channel had EPA.

If you are planning to stay in the hobby for a while, go for a good quality radio from the beginning. Futaba, Spectrum and Airtronics/Sanwa have models with 3 channels. For example, the Spectrum DX3E is an affordable entry level radio and should have the features you need. If you plan to run comp crawlers also, I would recommend to look at the Futaba 4PL or Airtronics/Sanwa MT-4.

I would choose a Castle Creations Sidewinder ESC, Integy Lathe 35t motor, a good quality servo for the steering, to start with any standard size servo should do for the transmission. Depending on your choice of servo for the steering, you might need a BEC to get enough amperage for it. If you run 2S Lipos and get a high voltage servo, you can power it straight from the battery. Most people use 3S Lipos, though.

The Sidewinder ESC and Integy motor will last you a long time and offer very smooth control, perfect for a scale crawler. The motor being a 35t will give you some wheelspeed also.

If you have a gear box with more than one gear, then you need a servo to operate the gear box.

The servos normally get their power through the ESC. The ESC powers the radio receiver which has all servos connected to it. So power to the servos come from the battery through the ESC. In a crawler servos have to work hard and the amp draw of a steering servo is often more than a ESC can deliver. This is why most crawlers also need a BEC. A BEC is a small circuit that allows you to take power to your receiver directly from the battery. Most receivers can only handle 6V when batteries are 7.4V or 11.1V. This is where the BEC comes in as it lowers the voltage of the battery to 6V or below.

You basically have two ways of connecting a BEC to your system. Alternative 1 would look like this:

Here's is alternative 2 which will work equally well for your scale crawler: